The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO has been brewing for a long time, and the reason why it failed to do so has long been Turkey's "obstruction". Since Finland and Sweden slowly met Turkey's requirements, Turkey also relieved and gave an approximate timetable, most likely around May this year (Sweden may be later). But at this time, Hungary stepped forward.
(Turkish Foreign Minister: Cavusoglu)
Hungarian politician Koczyš Matai said a vote would be held in parliament on March 27. But whether this will go well, the Swedish prime minister's adviser gave a hint: they want to know why, so you can give them a few examples to help understand."
(Hungarian Prime Minister Orban)
Over the years, many EU resolutions have often failed because of a veto by member states, and Hungary was the one that voted against. Recently, for example, the European Union offered an 18 billion euro loan to Ukraine in order to rebuild Ukraine, but Hungary voted against it. But this time the EU is smart, and the money is borne by other EU countries, not at the expense of the EU budget.
(EU Summit site)
In fact, this is not Hungary against Ukraine, but unhappy with the EU's behavior towards itself. Earlier, the funds promised by the EU to provide Hungary with billions of euros were frozen, which caused Hungary to be annoyed.
And in essence, Hungary has long opposed the EU's excessive intervention in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but small countries are small countries after all, and they simply cannot decide the decisions of the entire EU, and can only use their own veto power to influence the EU's decisions as much as possible.
(Hungary)
From some perspectives, the EU should indeed not participate in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, because Russia's energy counter-sanctions have led to energy crises and food crises in EU countries, and only Hungary still enjoys Russia's cheap energy.
However, Hungary's sobriety has attracted the disgust of EU countries, among which Sweden is very dissatisfied. Hungary's current prime minister, Christersson, made no secret of it, saying that most of their next job would be to stop Hungary's development and put pressure on the Hungarian government to support the Hungarian opposition.
(Russian gas pipeline)
In fact, Sweden, as a member of the European Union, how can it target Hungary, it is very simple, vote to freeze EU aid funds to Hungary, oppose Hungary's proposal, and limit Hungary's economic achievements. This is fatal for Hungary.
You know, when these countries joined the EU, they hoped to use the huge European circle to drive their own economies, and when competing with foreign countries, they can also have a dependence, not easy to suffer, and at the same time, they can avoid some economic risks through the EU's aid funds. In order to obtain this, EU countries, especially small ones, prefer to give up part of their sovereignty to the EU. In general, this is an exchange of benefits. This is true for Hungary, but it is also true for Sweden. Everyone is a colleague, but Sweden targets Hungary like this, naturally it will not get a good face.
(Swedish Prime Minister Christersson)
Now, Sweden wants to join NATO, and Hungary is a member of NATO, so it is natural to play a game.
In fact, the conditions are similar, if Sweden wants to pass the Hungarian pass, it must come up with sincere negotiation conditions, and the best condition is naturally to agree to EU funds entering Hungary and let people get what they deserve. At that time, Hungary will naturally cast its own vote.
(Hungarian Parliament Building)
However, having said that, Hungary should not want Sweden to join the treaty in the interests of the EU as a whole. Hungary is a medium-developed country, but it is not superior in the EU, which means that Hungary needs a peaceful and stable environment.
And Sweden's accession to NATO is clearly going in the opposite direction. NATO's northward expansion is the same as its eastward expansion, both of which are creating a threat to Russia, and Russia will definitely not sit idly by. A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which is naturally a counter-threat to NATO in addition to Ukraine.
(Russian nuclear weapons)